Podcast appearances and mentions of jon leonetti

Jon Leonetti joins me for our Heroic Marriages series. Iowa Catholic Radio Network Shows: - Be Not Afraid with Fr. PJ McManus - Catholic Women Now with Chris Magruder and Julie Nelson - Faith of Trial with Deacon Mike Manno and Gina Noll - Making It Personal with Bishop William Joensen - Man Up! with Joe Stopulus - The Catholic Morning Show - The Uncommon Good with Bo Bonner and Dr. Bud Marr - Faith and Family Finance with Gregory Waddle    

Truth, Wisdom, Instruction & UnderstandingProverbs 23:23 “Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.”Well, this is an interesting verse.  I wonder how we would sell truth?  I wonder why God needs to tell us to buy truth and do not sell it?  Then He also says to buy wisdom, instruction and understanding.  I was stumped on what this verse meant or what God was trying to tell us with this verse.  However, when it is put into context of our prayer group it makes a little more sense to me.  During prayer group the leader talked about how sometimes we think about all that we are lacking and we may even ask God what it is that we lack.  This is because we are looking to ourselves to gain eternal life.  We are looking to see what it is that we can do to get ourselves into heaven.  The leader talked about how we need to trade our self reliance in for reliance on God.  There isn't anything we can do to get ourselves into heaven.  We will get into heaven only through God's grace.  After the beginning part of our meeting we also had several words of prophecy that talked about how we are looking for God in all the wrong places.  We are looking for Him in places that He does not dwell.  He dwells deep within our hearts.  He also said that He is there for us, but we are not looking to Him to solve our problems, we are looking to ourselves to solve our problems.  He is asking us to turn our problems over to Him instead of trying to solve them on our own.  In this context I can see how God would want us to buy truth, wisdom, instruction and understanding.  We need to see the truth that we can't do anything on our own and yet we can “do all things through Christ who strengthens me” Philippians 4:13.  We need to not sell this truth for all the things the world tells us.  We need to not sell this truth in order to believe that we can do things on our own.  We need to not believe that God is too busy to help us.  We need to not believe that God helps others but not us.  We need to buy the truth and not sell it for any of these other false truths that the world is trying to sell us.Next, we need to ask God for Wisdom to know the difference.  Wisdom is a gift from the Holy Spirit and according to the Catholic Church wisdom is the first and highest gift of the Holy Spirit.  We believe that wisdom leads to an intimate understanding of God's Word and His commandments.  When we develop an intimate understanding of God's Word and His commandments then we can better live out our faith.  I believe this is why the verse above mentions truth and then puts wisdom, instruction and understanding in the same line.  I believe wisdom leads to instruction and understanding.  God has given us a lot of instruction in the Bible on how He wants us to live.  There is no question as to what He says in the Bible.  I think the question comes in when we try to interpret what He says in the Bible.  The Bible was written almost 2,000 years ago.  Well, the old testament was written long before that I believe.  So, reading the bible is not like reading something that was written 10 years ago.  Times have changed a lot.  Although as I write that I wonder, have they?  I mean yes technology has changed a lot, circumstances may have also changed a lot, but have we as people changed a lot?  That I am not sure of.  I think we tend to struggle with the same basic things as people struggled with back then.  The same underlying sins are there, we just have a different spin on them.  That is just my opinion.So, when it comes to reading the Bible, sometimes we can get caught up in the actual words of the Bible or the situation that they are talking about.  We can read something and think that it doesn't pertain to us because our situation is so different than that of the person of the Bible.  We can't really see any connection between how they are living and how we are living.  This is why we need wisdom, instruction and understanding.  We need wisdom to see how the situations in the Bible relate to our own situation.  We need instructions on how we are to live our life right now in this century.  We need understanding to know what is meant for us to read literally and what is meant as a story to teach us a lesson.There are different writing styles in the Bible.  There are things that are a historical recount of what happened during that time.  However, Jesus also teaches a lot of lessons through parables.  There are also stories meant to teach us a lesson.  If we have a deeper understanding of God's work we would know the difference.  Wisdom can come in many different ways I think.  For instance, we don't have to gain this understanding all on our own.  There are many people who have studied the Bible for years and are happily sharing all they know about it.  You can learn from them.I don't think anyone gains the wisdom to understand everything all at once.  For instance, I don't think you will go to bed one day and then wake up the next day with all the wisdom you have ever wanted.  I think the Holy Spirit opens your mind up to wisdom and then guides you to this wisdom.  You may be praying for wisdom and understanding and then you get an email or notice an advertisement for a Bible study in your area.  That is the Holy Spirit prompting you to gain the wisdom you are asking for.  Or, maybe you hear about a podcast that you hadn't heard of before.  There are several podcasts that have really helped me gain understanding about God's Word and about the Catholic Religion in general.  If you are looking for additional podcasts some of the ones I have tried are Father Mike Schmitz Bible In A Year Podcast, he also has another one that talks about all things Catholic.  The Jeff Cavins Show is a good one.  The Big Life Devotional with Pamela Crim is also good.  All Things Catholic with Edward Sri, I haven't listened to this one a lot, but I have heard him talk and he is really good.  The Elevation Church with Steven Furtick is good.  He is a minister that posts his sermons on this podcast.  I have never heard one that I didn't like.  Abiding Together is one that talks about three woman's journey in their faith.  That is also informational.  Your Catholic Life Podcast with Jon Leonetti is also a good one.  He is someone that loves his Catholic Faith so much and you can just hear it in his voice.  And last but not least Exploring My Strange Bible.  This one is so good.  Each episode is like a mini Bible study.  He takes all the stories and goes into a lot more detail so that you understand the Bible stories in a whole new way.  You get such a deeper understanding.  I didn't mean to deviate there, but I do think that understanding the Lord's Word is an essential part of Wisdom.  Not just His word but His instruction as well.  This is why I listed all those podcasts.  They will definitely help with understanding and wisdom.   I know it was a long list.  I don't intend for you to listen to them all, or any of them right now if you plate is full.  I have listened to different ones at different times.  This is why I am saying the Holy Spirit leads you to the wisdom you need.  If you are feeling you need more wisdom or understanding say a quick prayer and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you to the wisdom your seeking.  This list of podcasts is listed in the show notes so you can come back at any time and look through it.  Remember, rely not on yourselves and what you can do, but what God can do through you.  Dear Heavenly Father I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today. I ask that you help us to buy truth and not sell it and buy wisdom and instruction and understanding. Lord we ask that you lead us to your wisdom and not the ways of the world.  Lord we ask you for instruction and understanding in how to live life the way you want us to. Lord we ask for a supernatural wisdom, a gift from the Holy Spirit, that will help move your word and instruction from our brain to our heart. We're asking for an intimate knowledge of your word and instruction so that we can live it with our actions. We thank you so much for all you do for us Lord you are amazing.  We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus holy name amen. www.findingtruenorthcoaching.comCLICK HERE FOR RETREAT INFOCLICK HERE TO DONATECLICK HERE to sign up for Mentoring CLICK HERE to sign up for Daily "Word from the Lord" emailsCLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter & receive a free audio training about inviting Jesus into your daily lifeCLICK HERE to buy my book Total Trust in God's Safe Embrace

A weekly program produced by the Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg, Pa.   Candid Catholic Convos 6.16.24     SHOW DESCRIPTION:   As a society, we've viewed children as more dependent on the mother than the father, we've forgotten that men and fathers, hold an equally important place in the family as the mother, that there's a lot of pressure put on fathers to both provide and be present. More than a quarter of the children living in the United states are growing up without a father – that number jumps to over 70 percent in the inner city – even though it's been shown statistically, sociologically, and psychologically, that fathers have a massive role in positively impacting their children. They are an example of both masculinity and tenderness, a physical, earthly extension of God the Father. So how can we encourage and remind fathers of the value in their vocation? Today we're chatting with Jon Leonetti, a nationally known Catholic speaker, best-selling author, and radio host about using Saint Joseph as a model for our livelihood, our love life, and our big V vocations.  

 Candid Catholic Convos 2.25.24   A weekly program produced by the Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg, Pa.   SHOW DESCRIPTION:   Where are we supposed to look for a good example of what it means to live well? Where are we supposed to look for a model so we can in turn be an example for our children? What does that even look like, anyway? Today we're chatting with Jon Leonetti, a nationally known Catholic speaker, best-selling author, radio host and keynote speaker for this year's Diocesan Men's Conference, about using Saint Joseph as a model for our livelihood, our love life, and our big V vocations. 

Speaker, author and fan of bad sports teams, Jon Leonetti joins me as we continue our Heroic Fatherhood series.

Strive For HolinessHebrews 12:14 “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”Striving for holiness is something I have been hearing a lot about over the last few years. It is an interesting phrase that I don't think many people think about. If you were to ask people if they were striving for holiness, I am not sure they would say yes. I don't think this is because we don't want holiness. I think it is because we just never really thought about it before. Another reason might be that we have thought about it, and yet we discounted ourselves because we could never be holy. Who are we to think we could be holy? I remember going to a talk once by Jon Leonetti. He is excellent, by the way. You can find short videos on YouTube where he talks about all things Catholic. You can tell just by listening to him how much he loves his Faith. In his talk, he asked the audience how many people sitting there wanted to go to heaven. We all raised our hands. Then he asked how many of us wanted to be saints. I think there might have been 3 of us that raised our hands out of a couple hundred people in the room. He then said, “You know only saints are in heaven, right?” It's true. Nothing unclean gets into heaven. This is why we go to purgatory. However, wouldn't it be better if we started working towards holiness before we died? Wouldn't it be better not to have to spend as much time getting it right after we die?This verse tells us that we are ALL called to strive for peace and holiness. It says without this, we will not see the Lord. I don't know about you, but I want to see the Lord. I want to do whatever I have to do to be able to not only see the Lord but to spend eternity with Him. Holiness is not something we will be perfect at, and I don't think God expects perfection from us. It doesn't say in this verse that we must master peace and holiness. It says we should strive for it. So, how do we strive for it?Let's start with what holiness even means. From what I can gather, holiness means being set apart. Being holy means, we are set apart from the things of this world. It means we are set apart from sin too. One way we could strive for holiness is to ask God for the grace to follow Him in His ways. We can ask the Lord to put on our hearts the various ways we are falling short of holiness and then give us the grace and the strength to change those things. We can take all those things that the Lord put on our hearts to confession, and we can confess our sins and try to sin less next time. Going to confession can help us sin less because it brings our attention to our sins. The more you examine your conscience, the more you will begin to think about it even when you aren't meaning to. Also, the more aware you will be of what is right and what is wrong. The more you start to look at the Examination of Conscience, the more the Holy Spirit begins to point out things. First, He will point out the big ways we are breaking our relationship with the Lord. However, as we continue to grow closer to Him, we will start to notice even the small ways we offend the Lord. It is gradual and gentle. The Lord is not going to put all the things in your heart at once. He meets us where we are and walks us in slowly.Another important factor of being holy is having a personal, intimate relationship with our Lord, Jesus, and /or the Holy Spirit. They are three people in one, so it doesn't matter which you have an intimate relationship with. A lot of people feel more comfortable talking to Jesus as we can relate to Him. He was human. He walked the earth. We have stories about those He hung around. He has a mom and a dad like we do. Others love to talk with the Holy Spirit living inside of us. Some like to talk to God the Father. Any of these are good. Whatever feels the most comfortable for you. You might start talking with one and then as your relationship grows, you might find you are talking to all three depending on the circumstance.In order to have a personal relationship with any of them, you need to spend time with them. Imagine you wanted to have a relationship with your children, and yet you never had time for them. You wanted to, you meant to, and yet it just never happened. Things kept coming up, and you would get distracted. What kind of relationship do you think you would have with your kids if you never had any time to put into it? Would you know your kids? Would they know you? The same is true with the Lord. If you don't spend any time with Him, then you won't know Him. It says in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?'  And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'”It is not enough to know who Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit are. It is not enough to read about them in the Bible. It is not enough to admire them or even worship them from afar. We need to spend time with them. We need to talk with them. I know we are all busy, and I know we feel we don't have any time. Yet, can we really afford not to? Do we really want to risk being one of those who Jesus says, “I do not know you?” We are talking about where we get to spend eternity.It seems to me the stakes are pretty high, and even if we have tried in the past to have a relationship with Him before and we weren't able to maintain it, we need to try again. If we ask the Lord to help us, he gladly will. Sometimes not in the ways we would like, but He will always help us. One of my teachers was saying that she had an assignment to spend the day with Jesus, and she thought there was no way she had the time to spend the entire day with Jesus. She went on vacation and got vertigo, and had to spend the whole day in bed. She was on a mission trip with several people, one of whom was a priest. He left the blessed sacrament with her while they went out for the day. She got to spend the whole day with Jesus. Maybe not how she had thought she would, but He made the time for her.There are other ways to increase holiness. These are just two out of many. Ask the Lord what ways He wants you to grow in holiness, and then sit and listen to what He tells you. It won't be something so extreme you could never do it. Someone at my prayer group just said yesterday, “God won't ask you to go to Africa unless he first put Africa in your heart.” He is a loving Father. We don't have to be scared to go to Him and ask Him what He wants us to do because He knows us better than we know ourselves. He will be gentle with us. He will stretch us and maybe take us out of our comfort zone, but not so much that we need to be scared. Spend time with the Lord each and every day, and He will guide you to holiness. If you feel your schedule is way too busy to add anything else to it, go to my website, walkboldlywithjesus.com, and click on the link to an audio teaching I created titled “Invite Jesus Into Your Every Day.” This will give you ways to talk with Jesus and connect with Jesus without adding anything new to your day.Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, you are amazing, and we love you. We are so sorry that we don't make time for you. We are sorry we don't talk with you and cultivate our relationship with you. Lord, please put on each of our hearts at least one way we can grow closer to you. Put on our hearts one way we can grow in holiness. Lord, what we want more than anything in the whole world is to get to spend eternity with you. Please guide us, please show us how. We don't want to get to the end of this life and have you say, “I never knew you.” We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus' holy name, Amen!Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I want to remind everyone that you just have one more week to sign up for the retreat. CLICK HERE for retreat info. Many people have checked out the webpage with the information and yet have not signed up. I want to encourage you. If you are thinking about it and yet are nervous or scared, sign up anyway. If you have never done a retreat before and don't know what to expect, listen to Episode 580, Witness Wednesday #78, or you can listen to Episode #577, The Power of Retreats.  There really is something very powerful about taking a weekend away and spending it with other faith-filled women. I hope you have been thinking about it or considering it, I pray you will take the leap of faith and sign up. I pray you will do that for yourself. You do so much for others. When was the last time you did something for yourself? I look forward to meeting you here again on Monday. Remember Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed weekend!

The Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) was developed to help businesses maximize their potential. I believe the foundational principles of EOS can be used in our own life to become the men we want to be.

Dr. Gerard Verschuuren with Jon Leonetti on Iowa Catholic Radio concerning his book Faith That Makes You Think 082422Doesn't faith contradict thinking? Actually, no. The Catholic Church teaches that there is a strong relationship between faith and reason. In fact, it's a characteristic of us rational creatures to practice a faith that seeks understanding. This book is specifically written for Catholics—fallen-away Catholics, lukewarm Catholics, struggling Catholics, would-be Catholics—for all those in search of the truth, as it gives life-saving answers to life-size questions.https://enroutebooksandmedia.com/faith/

Jon Leonetti and Al Smith discuss the writings of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen and the new book published  by Sophia Institute Press titled "War and Peace - A Fulton J. Sheen Anthology.   Witnessing the growing threat of communism, Bishop Fulton J. Sheen recognized that modern atheism was a new type of Messianism threatening to beguile and conquer humanity.  Sheen stressed the use of reason as the unparalleled countermeasure to deceptive communism. The first three books contained in this anthology are a collection of Sheen's classic Catholic Hour radio addresses that were heard by millions of listeners in the 1930s and 1940s. Here, in a single compilation, are Bishop Sheen's most clearly delineated investigations into the underlying causes of communism — every bit as relevant today as when he spoke them — along with an entirely sound and hopeful program for defeating it.  In the fourth book of this anthology, The Philosophies of War, Sheen addresses the confusion felt by most people who were dissatisfied with the ephemeral and superficial commentaries about World War II. Like a master surgeon, Sheen applies the sharp scalpel of his crystal-clear logic to lay open the sources of the world's infection. The fifth book, Seven Pillars of Peace, presents the principles upon which Sheen believes the foundations for a just and lasting peace must be built. By making these five powerful resources your own, you'll have in one volume the means to thrive spiritually in our current seemingly desperate time. Drawing from biblical, cultural, and contemporary examples, Sheen will show you: The spirit of the Antichrist, immoral leaders, education, and societies  How personal sin is sickening our culture — and the cure for this “pandemic” The proper understanding of and instinctive human need for authentic freedom, justice, and love The need to unite for personal rights, including freedom of conscience Why it is crucial to be intolerant of evil and embrace a divine solution How America must choose to repent in order to overcome our present crisis Most notably, Archbishop Sheen proclaims the hope of Christ's Cross and the immeasurable power of His resurrected love. He exhorts us to carry our individual fragments of the beam. It is always darkest before the dawn, Sheen teaches. Times of discouragement are moments when great spiritual transformations can occur. If we return to God and do penance, we will attain interior peace. The future of America's freedom and restoration as a constitutional republic depend on our decision — now — to obediently trust in God.   To purchase a copy of the book, please visit  https://www.sophiainstitute.com/products/item/war-and-peace   And remember to take advantage of the 25% discount when you buy two books or more from the great line up of books offered by Sophia Press.   Just use the promo code "SHEEN25" at the time of checkout.   Also if you would like to find out more about Bishop Sheen and his life and legacy, please visit https://www.bishopsheentoday.com    

On Iowa Catholic Radio's morning show, host Jon Leonetti and his guest Al Smith talk about Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen's 1941 book titled 'A Declaration of Dependence' that has been republished by Sophia Institute Press and is available at https://www.sophiainstitute.com/products/item/a-declaration-of-dependence   This book reveals the shocking truth you need to know in a world riddled by irrationality, emotionalism, and violence. Religion is under attack, whether from totalitarian governments or modern education. Our tacit submission to politics, “freedom,” and science has made us slaves to a diabolical New Atheism and fear. With his prescient wit, wisdom, and fervor, Archbishop Fulton Sheen provides clarity amid propagandist lies and pagan societies united in purpose to destroy. He reminds us why we must fear what kills the soul more than what kills the body. He exposes the false prophets and philosophies at work in the world and the many “believers” who no longer worship or act in accordance with their beliefs. Archbishop Sheen masterfully decries the divisions and hatreds in America, explaining how we have turned from God and are on the precipice, that there is “too much tolerance of evil and not enough intolerance of injustice.” The chastisements the world is facing, he declares, are a consequence of its sins; they are the result of our abandonment of God, our idolatry; and man's attempts to replace God serve only to show that the world is devoid of goodness without His presence. By declaring ourselves independent of God, we have brought down His wrath and made ourselves slaves to the world, the flesh, and the devil. Archbishop Sheen invites us to examine our consciences to see how we have, in fact, caused the wars in the world.  By reading this book you will see how “isms” control people where the seeds have been planted for them to be controlled. You will learn how, throughout history, God punishes to destroy evil and, at the same time, to heal His sons from their sins. In addition, you will absorb the future saint's teachings on: The presence of the Antichrist in history The cause of war — whether or not it is just — and where its greatest tragedy lies How to truly fight for peace, justice, and unity in our country and among nations The standard to which all Christians should hold themselves  Why the Church is opposed to extreme militarism and pacifism Why those without conscience persecute those with conscience Best of all, Archbishop Sheen explains how God's wrath is not capricious but is a consequence of our actions, how He is good and loving and will not let us drown in our sins, and how the key to our restoration — repentance — is readily in our grasp.     

On Iowa Catholic Radio's morning show, host Jon Leonetti and his guest Al Smith talk about Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen's writing on Love.   Al has created a new book titled "The Greatest Commandment" and this book is available for purchase through Sophia Institute Press at https://www.sophiainstitute.com/products/item/the-greatest-commandment   In today's culture, the word love is one of the most commonly misused and abused in our language. Devoid of order, misconceptions about love run rampant, steeped as we are in narcissism, secular humanism, relativism, and hedonism. Separated from God, society tragically propagates a notion of love that is, in truth, the antithesis of authentic love.  Now more than ever we need Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen's wisdom, wit, and logic to refute these errors. In our sightless, irrational, and deeply polarized world, his prescient words elucidate the most divisive issues of our time. Mindful that we are all children of God, Archbishop Sheen decries anti-Semitism, racism, and sexism. He also explains what real tolerance means and why anti-hate campaigns don't work. The Greatest Commandment is a timely reprint of Archbishop Sheen's two seminal books Love One Another and God Love You. This anthology of his bestselling reflections also contains quotes and prayers that he compiled to foster ecumenism and societal unity. Drawing on Sacred Scripture, the writings of the saints, and philosophy, Archbishop Sheen explains: The meaning of love in light of the Holy Trinity Why God created us to love — and to be loved The three types of love and the nine ingredients to charity How Heaven is the ultimate fulfillment of our joy, desire, and love Why love cannot exist without truth How we give the greatest glory to God at Mass by uniting ourselves to Christ A treasure to contemplate, The Greatest Commandmentexpounds upon our deep-seated need to love God and implore His mercy by developing a personal relationship with Him through Sacred Scripture and the Sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist and Confession. God's loving quest for our souls in turn impels us to love our neighbor. Love is a decision and requires sacrifice; it is the total gift of self for another. Our witness aids the disillusioned in finding their way to God. By cooperating with God's Love, we will bring about the restoration of the world.   

A Call To Holiness2 Timothy 1:9  “Who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began”This is something that I am not sure that we are all aware of.  Did you know that God is calling us to holiness?  I remember when I did the Marian Consecration titled 33 days to Morning Glory, by Father Michael Gaitley, I was stunned when I learned that we are all called to be saints.  I felt very uncomfortable with this idea.  How could I become a saint?  The Saints were so holy, they were so selfless.  They gave so much of themselves to God.  They made so many sacrifices.  Also, they were so close to God.  There is no way I could ever be that close to God.  These, and many other thoughts went through my mind.Also, if I am being honest I also had selfish thoughts.  Thoughts like, “Do I want to sacrifice that much?”  “Their lives seemed so hard, I don't know if I could handle that.”  Becoming a saint seemed to require so much work and the thought of it was very overwhelming.  When we were doing the study, I went along with it.  I didn't really ask questions about what becoming a saint meant.  I didn't really ask about what it means to have a “holy calling.”  I just did the study, and sat with this idea.  I thought a lot about it.  I am not sure if I have talked about our reticular activator with you guys before or not.  Your reticular activator is the filter on your brain.  We see so many things in the course of the day.  Our brain can't process all that we see.  Our reticular activator tells our brain what to focus on.  Have you ever noticed when you decide to buy a new car, say you want at Toyota Camry, then you start to see Camry's every.  In the same way, if you start a new diet, you will start to notice things on that diet all around you.  After hearing that I was called to be a saint in this study, I started thinking a lot about it.  Then I started to notice other people talking about this as well.  I learned that there are two different kinds of saints.  There is Saints with a capital S.  These are people that have been formally recognized by the Catholic Church as Saints.  There is a whole canonization process that one has to go trough to  become a capitol S Saint.  One of the requirements is that you have miracles associated with your name.  You did not create the miracle, as only God can do that, but the miracle was granted to the person because of your intercession.  If you would like to know more about the canonization process you can read about it here. The other type of saint is everyone else that is in Heaven.  Did you know only saints go to heaven?  This was one of those things for me that when it is explained it makes so much sense it seems like I should have know it and yet, it honestly never occurred to me.  God is perfect, and amazing and holy and almighty and all that is good.  It makes so much sense that only perfect, holy, good people would be able to be in His presence.  And yet, I guess I didn't really give it much thought.  I was at a mission at church one night and the speaker was Jon Leonetti.  If you have not heard of this man, you should look him up.  He wrote some great books.  He also has a podcast called Your Catholic Life.  The mission started with Jon asking us all 2 questions.  The first question was, “How many of you want to get to Heaven someday?”  I am sure every hand in the room was raised.  Next, he asked, “How many of you want to become saints.”  Can you guess how many of us raised our hands?  I think there were 5 people that raised their hands.  After this question he let us all know that the only way into heaven is to become a saint.  I want to clarify, because I know this was a lot when I was learning about it, and I don't want anyone listening to this episode thinking that they are never going to be a saint so they might as well give up on heaven now.  We are not called to get ourselves into Heaven.  God is the only one that can turn us into saints.  It even says in the verse above, “Who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace,”  God has saved us and He is not calling us to holiness based on our works, but on his own purpose and grace.  If we become saints it will not be because of something that we do, it will because of God's grace.  You may be asking why I am even talking about this today if we can't get into Heaven based on anything we do.  My answer is that I want to make you aware of this call to holiness in case you, like me, have not heard it before.  Just because you don't have final say over the results, doesn't mean you shouldn't do all that you can do to prepare.  When you are in school and your teacher gives you a test, you don't have control over the grade you get on that test.  The teacher is the one that grades the test.  However, you do have control over whether you prepare for the test or not.  You can do everything in your power to prepare for that test so that you have the best chance of getting a good grade.  But, what if you didn't know about the test?  What if your teacher gave you a pop quiz, would you be as prepared for that?  This may not be a perfect analogy, but it is what came to mind when I thought of a way to explain why I am telling you that you are called to be a saint.  If you do not know that you are called to holiness, if you do not know that there are only saints in Heaven, then you can't be prepared for it.  You can't do everything in your power to prepare for Heaven.  And that end goal is much more important than any grade on any test.  If you are like me, your next question is how do I become a saint.  I don't need to be a saint with at capital S, but I do want to be a saint in Heaven someday.  I think the first step is knowing that you have this calling and that God gave us His purpose and grace when He gave us Jesus.  You already have everything you need to be holy inside of you.  Being a saint does not require big gestures.  You don't have to give away all your money and possessions and live in a foreign country ministering to the poor and hungry.  If you feel called to this, you are welcome to and that is great.  But this is not what I am talking about.  I think small gestures of love are a great way to grow in holiness.  Matthew Kelly talks about this in several books I think, but the one I think he talked about it the most in was titled, I Heard God Laugh.  In this book he talks about how we can all create holy moments as we go through our day.  We can hold the door open for the person behind us, we could do random acts of kindness, we could show our children a little extra patience when they really need it.  All of these things are ways you can grow in holiness.  God is love, and when we show that love to others we are reflecting God's light through us.  Another way to grow in holiness is to learn about God and read His Word.  I have grown so much in the last few years just by reading scripture and reading books about the Saints, and other spiritual writings.  I have recently learned that a major saying in AA Alcoholics Anonymous is “If you want what I have, do what I do.”  The meaning of this is for those that want the sobriety that they hear others talk about they need to do what they are doing, such as showing up for meetings, working the steps of the program, staying in contact with their sponsor or others at the meeting.  I think this is also a great saying for how to grow in holiness.  If you want to be like the saints, do what they do.  Read about the saints and their lives.  When I have read about them I learned two main things.  One, they were regular people, like you and I.  It is not that they did not have any struggles, they had plenty.  What made them so holy is how they handled those struggles.  And if they can do it, so can you.  The second thing I learned is that they never gave up trying to be holy.  They were humble and knew that they weren't perfect, and they didn't let that get in the way of them continuing to try over and over again.  Read what they did and do what they did.  There are many ways that you can grow in holiness and I am sure I will talk about this again some time.  However, I know you don't have all day to listen to this episode so I will end with Purgatory.  This is not a way to grow in holiness, but it is a way that helps you become a saint.  God is so merciful and He knows that we are a fallen people and perfection is not in the cards for us.  Instead of condemning us to hell, those that die in a state of grace get to go to Purgatory for a purification process.  This is the reason for purgatory.  This is where we go to be purified so that we can be good enough to be in the presence of God.  God wants us all to be saints.  Yet, he also gives us free will so that if we do not choose to be in His presence we don't have to.  If you are listening to a podcast titled, Walk Boldly With Jesus, then I am sure you want to be living in the presence of God someday.  This is possible.  All you have to do is want it and then tell God you want it.  Then do your best to live a holy life and He will do the rest.  I look forward to the day we can all gather together in Heaven and celebrate the Lord together.  Dear Heavenly Father, I pray that you bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we accept your call to holiness and we ask that you help us to carry it out.  We ask that you show us how to be holy and you put this calling on our hearts.  Lord, we know that we can only get into heaven through your purpose and grace and we thank you so much for both of them.  You give so much to us and we give very little back in comparison.  We love you and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus' holy name, Amen!

Jon Leonetti interviews Al Smith about his newest book "Lord Teach us to Pray". They discuss the content of the book along with some tips on developing a holy habit of prayer. To purchase the book visit: https://www.sophiainstitute.com/products/item/lord-teach-us-to-pray

Truth, Wisdom, Instruction & UnderstandingProverbs 23:23 “Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.”Well, this is an interesting verse.  I wonder how we would sell truth?  I wonder why God needs to tell us to buy truth and do not sell it?  Then He also says to buy wisdom, instruction and understanding.  I was stumped on what this verse meant or what God was trying to tell us with this verse.  However, when it is put into context of our prayer group it makes a little more sense to me.  During prayer group the leader talked about how sometimes we think about all that we are lacking and we may even ask God what it is that we lack.  This is because we are looking to ourselves to gain eternal life.  We are looking to see what it is that we can do to get ourselves into heaven.  The leader talked about how we need to trade our self reliance in for reliance on God.  There isn't anything we can do to get ourselves into heaven.  We will get into heaven only through God's grace.  After the beginning part of our meeting we also had several words of prophecy that talked about how we are looking for God in all the wrong places.  We are looking for Him in places that He does not dwell.  He dwells deep within our hearts.  He also said that He is there for us, but we are not looking to Him to solve our problems, we are looking to ourselves to solve our problems.  He is asking us to turn our problems over to Him instead of trying to solve them on our own.  In this context I can see how God would want us to buy truth, wisdom, instruction and understanding.  We need to see the truth that we can't do anything on our own and yet we can “do all things through Christ who strengthens me” Philippians 4:13.  We need to not sell this truth for all the things the world tells us.  We need to not sell this truth in order to believe that we can do things on our own.  We need to not believe that God is too busy to help us.  We need to not believe that God helps others but not us.  We need to buy the truth and not sell it for any of these other false truths that the world is trying to sell us.Next, we need to ask God for Wisdom to know the difference.  Wisdom is a gift from the Holy Spirit and according to the Catholic Church wisdom is the first and highest gift of the Holy Spirit.  We believe that wisdom leads to an intimate understanding of God's Word and His commandments.  When we develop an intimate understanding of God's Word and His commandments then we can better live out our faith.  I believe this is why the verse above mentions truth and then puts wisdom, instruction and understanding in the same line.  I believe wisdom leads to instruction and understanding.  God has given us a lot of instruction in the Bible on how He wants us to live.  There is no question as to what He says in the Bible.  I think the question comes in when we try to interpret what He says in the Bible.  The Bible was written almost 2,000 years ago.  Well, the old testament was written long before that I believe.  So, reading the bible is not like reading something that was written 10 years ago.  Times have changed a lot.  Although as I write that I wonder, have they?  I mean yes technology has changed a lot, circumstances may have also changed a lot, but have we as people changed a lot?  That I am not sure of.  I think we tend to struggle with the same basic things as people struggled with back then.  The same underlying sins are there, we just have a different spin on them.  That is just my opinion.So, when it comes to reading the Bible, sometimes we can get caught up in the actual words of the Bible or the situation that they are talking about.  We can read something and think that it doesn't pertain to us because our situation is so different than that of the person of the Bible.  We can't really see any connection between how they are living and how we are living.  This is why we need wisdom, instruction and understanding.  We need wisdom to see how the situations in the Bible relate to our own situation.  We need instructions on how we are to live our life right now in this century.  We need understanding to know what is meant for us to read literally and what is meant as a story to teach us a lesson.There are different writing styles in the Bible.  There are things that are a historical recount of what happened during that time.  However, Jesus also teaches a lot of lessons through parables.  There are also stories meant to teach us a lesson.  If we have a deeper understanding of God's work we would know the difference.  Wisdom can come in many different ways I think.  For instance, we don't have to gain this understanding all on our own.  There are many people who have studied the Bible for years and are happily sharing all they know about it.  You can learn from them.I don't think anyone gains the wisdom to understand everything all at once.  For instance, I don't think you will go to bed one day and then wake up the next day with all the wisdom you have ever wanted.  I think the Holy Spirit opens your mind up to wisdom and then guides you to this wisdom.  You may be praying for wisdom and understanding and then you get an email or notice an advertisement for a Bible study in your area.  That is the Holy Spirit prompting you to gain the wisdom you are asking for.  Or, maybe you hear about a podcast that you hadn't heard of before.  There are several podcasts that have really helped me gain understanding about God's Word and about the Catholic Religion in general.  If you are looking for additional podcasts some of the ones I have tried are Father Mike Schmitz Bible In A Year Podcast, he also has another one that talks about all things Catholic.  The Jeff Cavins Show is a good one.  The Big Life Devotional with Pamela Crim is also good.  All Things Catholic with Edward Sri, I haven't listened to this one a lot, but I have heard him talk and he is really good.  The Elevation Church with Steven Furtick is good.  He is a minister that posts his sermons on this podcast.  I have never heard one that I didn't like.  Abiding Together is one that talks about three woman's journey in their faith.  That is also informational.  Your Catholic Life Podcast with Jon Leonetti is also a good one.  He is someone that loves his Catholic Faith so much and you can just hear it in his voice.  And last but not least Exploring My Strange Bible.  This one is so good.  Each episode is like a mini Bible study.  He takes all the stories and goes into a lot more detail so that you understand the Bible stories in a whole new way.  You get such a deeper understanding.  I didn't mean to deviate there, but I do think that understanding the Lord's Word is an essential part of Wisdom.  Not just His word but His instruction as well.  This is why I listed all those podcasts.  They will definitely help with understanding and wisdom.   I know it was a long list.  I don't intend for you to listen to them all, or any of them right now if you plate is full.  I have listened to different ones at different times.  This is why I am saying the Holy Spirit leads you to the wisdom you need.  If you are feeling you need more wisdom or understanding say a quick prayer and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you to the wisdom your seeking.  This list of podcasts is listed in the show notes so you can come back at any time and look through it.  Remember, rely not on yourselves and what you can do, but what God can do through you.  Dear Heavenly Father I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today. I ask that you help us to buy truth and not sell it and buy wisdom and instruction and understanding. Lord we ask that you lead us to your wisdom and not the ways of the world.  Lord we ask you for instruction and understanding in how to live life the way you want us to. Lord we ask for a supernatural wisdom, a gift from the Holy Spirit, that will help move your word and instruction from our brain to our heart. We're asking for an intimate knowledge of your word and instruction so that we can live it with our actions. We thank you so much for all you do for us Lord you are amazing.  We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus holy name amen.

Al Smith who compiled and edited the book - Archbishop Sheen's Book of Sacraments (Sophia Institute Press) joins the Jon Leonetti in the Morning Show on Iowa Catholic Radio to have a lively discussion about this very special book.   This latest anthology has two books in one and contains Archbishop Sheen's classic 1962 book titled "These are the Sacraments" and his very popular 1951 book titled "Three to Get Married".   It has been said that every Catholic home should have a copy of this book.  There is something for everyone, no matter how old or how young you are.   To order the book, please visit - https://www.sophiainstitute.com/products/item/archbishop-sheens-book-of-sacraments   God Love You.    

Abiding ForeverRomans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”Do not be conformed to this world.  This is a tall order.  There are so many things in this world that are vying for our attention.  There is so much out there on social media, on the regular TV, on Netflix and Hulu.  We live in a world that is so busy.  There is so much noise in the world today.  Everybody wants you to listen to them, to buy their product, to think the way that they do.  And marketing has gotten so good at figuring out what people want and how to make people spend their money.  I was in the appliance section at Sears dept. store once and they were baking fresh cookies so that the smell would draw people in and make them more likely to buy from them. Then there are the different news media outlets.  They seem to all be saying something different and yet they all want you to believe what they are saying.  In a world with so much noise, how do we not get swept up in all that is going on?  How do we resist the temptation to be conformed by the world?  One thing I love about God is that He always helps us out.  He provides guidance and judgement.  He does not just tell us how He wants us to act, but he explains how and then He usually has someone show us what he means.  In this verse He doesn't just tell us not to be conformed but He goes on to say but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.  So how do we get this renewal of the mind?  The verse says that by testing you may discern the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.This can be really difficult at times to figure out as the world's idea of good, acceptable and perfect vary greatly from what the Lord says.  God has tried very hard to lay out the laws for us. He gave us the whole Bible to help us know how we should live.  Reading the Bible is a great way to help discern the will of God.  It is also a great way to see what God thinks is good, acceptable and perfect.  There are so many books of the bible that are there specifically to tell us how we should live, both in the new testament and the old testament.  Proverbs in the Old Testament is a great book to read if you are looking for direction from God in various areas.  The letters to the different communities in the New Testament are also a great place to look. If you are wondering how God wants you to live, you do not have far to look.  He spells it out very specifically in the Bible.  However, the bible may not cover all the things we have in today's modern world.  This is when we can look to the church, the Pope, the saints, the religious leaders in your church.  The Pope writes letters called encyclicals which address his views on various church teachings.  These can be a great place to turn when you want more detail on various church teachings.  Also, God is continually raising up people who are inspired by the holy spirit to help us know right from wrong.  He is raising up all different types of people so that there is always someone that you can relate to.  If you have not found someone that inspires you to live a more faith filled life,I encourage you to start looking, or keep looking.  Here are a few names to get you started, Father Mike Schmitz, Jeff Cavins, Jon Leonetti, Bishop Barron, Matthew Kelly, Bobby & Jackie Angel, Pamela Crim.   These are just a few names, there are so many.  Find someone that inspires you and then your journey will be so much easier.Even with all the lengths God has gone through to teach us the right way to live, the world sometimes overrides that teaching.  The world is often times louder.  We can't hear God through all the noise of the world.  It is important that we not let the noise of the world be louder than that of God.  It is important that we intentionally spend time grounding ourselves in God's truth before we even try to go out into the world.  In 1 John 2:15-17 it says, Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”  I don't know about you, but I certainly want to abide forever.  Think about how fast each year goes.  We are not going to be on this earth for very long compared to forever.  Why is is so hard for us to see how important it is to follow Jesus now, right in this moment, and not wait until tomorrow.  We are not always guaranteed tomorrow.  What if we keep putting off doing what is right until we feel like it, and then that day never comes?  I know that those of you listening to this podcast are probably already striving to live like Jesus.  You wouldn't be showing up here every day if we didn't love God and want to please Him.  And yet, I felt strongly that God wanted to me use this verse today and to teach on not conforming to this world.  Everyone needs to be reminded of this every now and then. None of us are perfect.  The more we show up here and listen to the teachings, the more we read the bible and study it, the more we read/learn on our own, the deeper an understanding we get of God and His will for us.  However, knowing something and doing something are two completely different things.  I bet we all struggle with doing things that we know God wants us to do.  For instance, God wants us to love everyone, but that is not easy.  He wants us to forgive everyone, but that can feel impossible at times.  God knows us, intimately.  He knows where we are at and what our struggles are and if we have asked Him to help us with those struggles, then He is doing that.  I don't think this was meant to reprimand us, I think this morning He just wanted to remind us to be mindful of ways that we may be conforming to this world.  He loves us and wants to help us so we can join Him in heaven one day.  What might you be doing that is more of this world and less of God?  What are you spending more time thinking about, those things of this world, or God?  What about your desires, are they of God or are they of this world?  I for one would like to strive for a renewal of the mind so I can discern the will of God and do what is good, acceptable and perfect.  How about you, would you like to abide forever?Dear Heavenly Father I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today. Father we ask that you help us not conform to this world. We ask that you give us the strength and wisdom to follow your ways not the ways of this world.  Lord we ask that you help us quiet the noise of the world and listen to your voice. We ask that you help us find time in our schedule and throughout our day to spend with you quietly listening to your will. Lord you are amazing and you have gone out of your way to show us how to live correctly. Help us to live the way you want us to live Lord. Help us to discern your will so that we may abide forever. Lord we love you so very much and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus holy name, Amen

Bear & Jon talk about having a certain disinterestedness in ourselves and our agenda and how to love and serve others for God's sake.

Catholic author Dr. Kenneth Howell on meditation and the Eucharist by Jon Leonetti

Author Dr. Kevin Vost on St. Thomas Aquinas and his new book on the Four Last Things by Jon Leonetti

Julia Golding on the life of J.R.R. Tolkien, and her quest to make him more known. by Jon Leonetti

Dr. Scott Hahn on building a civilization on Jesus Christ by Jon Leonetti

Catholic author Mallory Smyth on her conversion to Catholicism and falling in love with Jesus by Jon Leonetti

Jeffrey Karls on the true nature and essential value of Consecrated/Religious Life by Jon Leonetti

Catholic author Clair Swinarski on how to thrive in the Catholic life by Jon Leonetti

In this bonus episode with Jon Leonetti we discuss: - The role grilled cheese played in Jon's ministry - Trying to control our lives rather than giving our plans up to the Lord can lead to our disappointment - Moments of silence are where we can hear God the loudest - And more! DOWNLOADS Get a copy of my new eBook, "12 Ways Guys Can Get Closer to Jesus": bit.ly/3h6V9t8 SUPPORT Support me on Patreon. Your monthly gift, no matter the size, will help me grow "Just a Guy in the Pew" and reach more men who need the message of Jesus in their life. When you become a Patron, you also get awesome swag and exclusive content. Check it out here: www.patreon.com/pewministries

Fr. John Cush on what theology is, why it matters, and how to better apply it in our lives by Jon Leonetti

Jon Leonetti joins me to discuss Brother Lawrence's great spiritual work "The Practice of the Presence of God".

Catholic author Emily Jaminet on Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus by Jon Leonetti

Dr. Mark Giszczak on the new Bible translation from The Augustine Institute by Jon Leonetti

Guests: Mark Amadeo, Deacon Dave O'Brien, Megan Salois, Man Up host Joe Stopulos, Jesse Wieler

Jon Leonetti in the Morning - 10/9/2020 by Iowa Catholic Radio

Dcn. Randy Kiel Maroon Moment

Nicholas Will Bo Bonner

Adam Storey Dcn. Randy Kiel Lisa Hendey

Catholic author Doug Beaumont on his book "Affirming Catholic Teaching Using Protestant Principles" by Jon Leonetti

Dcn. Dave O'Brien Eric Groth Ut Fidem: Karliegh Osborn Mary Sweetman

Fr. Andrew Windschitl Gary Zimak

Dcn. Randy Kiel Fr. Jeff Kirby

Bo Bonner

Adam Storey Doug Beaumont

Dcn. Dave O'Brien Marilyn Lane Ellen Miller Bishop William Joensen

Fr. Andrew Windschitl Marilyn Lane Ellen Miller Justin White

Maroon Moment Magnus McFarlane Barrow

Sheila Starr Bo Bonner

Fr. Robert McTeigue on his book and the importance of Philosophy in our lives by Jon Leonetti

Adam Storey Rob Carey

Fr. Bill Watson, SJ speaks with radio host Jon Leonetti on Iowa Catholic Radio about his vocation as a Jesuit priest, discernment, and the Sacred Story Institute.

Get over yourself! Can you believe that is Catholic doctrine? Well it is. Join Bear and Jon Leonetti as they tackle the real challenging of learning how to become dis-interested in ourselves and put others first. Learn more about Jon's work at jonleonetti.com

On this episode, Chris Kiefer sits down with Jon Leonetti to discuss the path that Jon has taken to get to where he is today as nationally-known Catholic public figure. Jon shares how his journey […]